Conventional cassette-type signal recording-reproducing apparatus such as video tape recorders (VTRs) have a cassette loading mechanism for transporting the cassette inserted into a cassette inlet in the front side of the apparatus to a recording-reproducing position, and are provided at the inlet with a front door which is opened toward the inside of the apparatus. The door is opened and closed in operative relation with the cassette loading mechanism as disclosed, for example, in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. SHO 61-211865 and Unexamined Japanese Utility Model Publication No. SHO 61-98255. None of the conventional apparatus are so adapted that the front door at the inelt is openable outwardly of the apparatus.
The front door for opening and closing the cassette inlet is also usable for guiding the cassette with its front side when it is loaded and unloaded, after the front door is turned into the apparatus through 90 degrees to a fallen position with the front side up.
However, the conventional apparatus wherein the door is opened inwardly thereof has the problem that the cassette which moves in sliding contact with the front surface of the door defaces the surface, permitting the defacement to show up when the door is closed.
Further to provide compacted apparatus of diverse designs, it has been attempted to provide operation switches on the front side of the door and to dispose an electric circuit connected to the switches within the thickness of the door, thereby making the door usable as an operation panel.
When the door is openable inward, nevertheless, there arises the objection that the cassette is moved over the operation switches, so that the above arrangement is infeasible.
These problems can be overcome if the front door is made openable outwardly of the apparatus, but when the conventional door opening-closing mechanism is then employed as the basic structure, the following problem will be encountered.
When the supply of power to the apparatus is interrupted with the door open, for example, owing to a power failure or to the slipping-off of the plug from the receptacle, it may be attempted to forcibly close the door with hand. The movement of the door will then be delivered to the door opening-closing mechanism and the cassette loading mechanism, causing trouble or damage to these mechanisms.
An apparatus having a different cassette loading mechanism has been proposed (Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. SHO 61-276159). When the cassette is to be loaded, a cassette holder within the apparatus is extended outward from a front opening of the apparatus. The mechanism starts loading the cassette as placed on the extended holder.
With this apparatus, there is no need to insert the cassette into the apparatus, but the cassette holder must be extended by a distance corresponding to the size of the cassette. To reliably support the extended holder in a cantilever fashion, there arises a need to provide great support means, which invariably makes the holder large in size.